William Yajima, PhD Senior Editor How to effectively organize and write for scientific books...

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William Yajima, PhD Senior Editor How to effectively organize and write for scientific books Association of Japanese Geographers 30 March 2013

Transcript of William Yajima, PhD Senior Editor How to effectively organize and write for scientific books...

William Yajima, PhDSenior Editor

How to effectively organize and write for scientific books

Association of Japanese Geographers30 March 2013

About me

Senior Editor

Researcher: • Over 10 years in academia and private industry

Author: • 10 original research or review articles in journals• 2 book chapters• Abstracts, technical guide, online encyclopedia chapter

Overview of books Book organization Increasing readability

Today’s presentation …

Overview of books

Section 1

The importance of publishing

To communicate your research to a global audience

Journal articles are not the only publications for researchers

Journals and Books

Journals Primary literature Narrow scope In-depth Published in 6 – 12

months

Books Secondary literature Broad scope Not as in-depth Published in 12 – 36

months

Monograph single theme one or a few authors ~ 100 – 300 pages published in 1 – 3

years

Types of books

Edited volumes broad focus multiple authors part of a series ~ 200 – 500 pages published in ~ 1

year

Types of books

SpringerBriefsconcise summaries

of emerging topicsone or a few authors50 – 125 pagespublished within 3

months of acceptance

Types of books

Published book must be available online Traditional print books are not enough

eBooks

eBooks: Allows for wider variety

of manuscripts Highly accessible Portable

Helps establish your reputation Opportunity to express your

thoughts and opinions

Why publish books?

May influence your research program

Develop a relationship with editors and publishers

Book proposals

Is the topic relevant?Not previously publishedForward thinking

Who is the intended audience? Should be specific

Are the authors qualified? What is the proposed

content/structure? Estimated timeline

Book organization

Section 2

Front matter:

first section table of contents, foreword, preface, introduction

Text:

chapters (smallest), sections, and parts (largest)

Back matter:

final section

conclusion, appendix, glossary, bibliography, index

Book sections

Table of contents All topics covered in whole book Details on topics covered in each

chapter Page numbers Tips

Chapter and section headings should clearly describe what is discussed

Headings should be concise Avoid using jargon

Book-specific sections

Book-specific sections

Glossary

List of important terms and their definitions

Tips Give readers the necessary terms to understand your book

Ensure that the terms are specific to your research field

Make sure the terms are appropriate for the target audience

Book-specific sections

Index

Important terms and where to find them in the book

Map to guide readers of your book

Tips Selected terms should be well distributed among the

topics in the book

Try to predict what the readers will want to look for

Book and Chapter organization

Book ChapterIntroduction

Conclusions

SectionsChapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 5Chapter 4

Flow of information:Summary (similar to

an article abstract)Introduction

providing contextShort sections with

descriptive headingsConclusionsReferences (75 – 100)

Chapter organization

Sections

Consistency between chapters is important abbreviations, formatting, terminology

Chapters must be stand-alone downloaded individually

Repetition between chapters should be avoided

Tip for book editors:Make chapter topics and titles available

to all authors during writing

Chapter organization

Publisher style guides

www.springer.com/authors/book+authors?SGWID=0-154102-0-0-0

Increasing readability

Section 3

A good book title

Titles should be: Short Simple Factual

Avoid using questions

Poor titleBuilding Walls and Dissolving Borders: The Challenges of Alterity, Community and Securitizing Space

Good titleRecent Landform Evolution

Use schematics and flowcharts

e.g., in the introduction

Keep it simple — use separate panels

Legends must be able to ‘stand alone’

Permission and copyright

Display items

Sustainable Rural and Urban Ecosystems: Design, Implementation and Operation. Eds. G. Geller, D. Glucklich. 2012

Display items

Legend clearly explaining meaning of different map components

Clear, ‘stand alone’ legend

Scale bar

Recent Landform Evolution, Eds. D. Loczy, M. Stankoviansky, A. Kotoraba, 2012

Thank you!

www.edanzediting.co.jp

Questions?

Download presentationedanzediting.co.jp/ajg_march_2013

Springer Book Author Academywww.springer.com/authors/book+authors/book+author+academy?SGWID=0-1734013-0-0-0